of america's greatest poets. he said, i shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence, two roads diverged in a wood and i, i took the one less traveled by. and that, he said, has made all the difference. we have difficult and pressing challenges to address in a short time. passing a budget, replacing the se quest we are a balanced alternative, and averting a default on our debt. a default which would be catastrophic for america, for its people, for its economy and would have ramifications throughout the world. we can begin, mr. speaker, by going to conference on the budget and allowing both sides to sit down and start working on an agreement. that seems to be, mr. speaker, the road less traveled by. a road forward. a road that leads to positive, constructive, supportable results. not backward. a road to constructive compromise, not destruct i confrontation and to results that benefit our people and our economy. mr. speaker, such a road would urely make all the difference. for this congress and f